Capos. They’re the reason behind the adage 3 chords and the truth. If you’ve got a guitar and you know 3 chords, you can play songs in 10 times as many keys. All you have to do is put a capo behind one of the frets and you’re good to go.
But even if you know more than 3 chords, a capo allows guitarists, banjoists, and other players of stringed instruments to choose more interesting or more comfortable chord shapes or progressions. (I’m talking to you F chord.)
Recently I’ve been trying out the Nashville capo by G7th. Their Performance capo has been a part of my live show and studio setup for years. So, when I heard about their spring-based Nashville capo, I thought I’d give it a try.
The spring clamp, or trigger capos as they are often called, has been around for ages. They’re a go-to for most players because of their relatively low price and the convenience of a one-handed position change. Just squeeze it and move it up the neck. And when you’re not using it, it clamps easily to the headstock of your guitar.
QUALITY AND FEEL
The G7th Nashville capo has a high-quality look and a durable feel. The metal is shiny and comes in several color options: red, white, green, blue, silver, black, and even in an 18kt gold plate.
The magic of a capo happens where it touches the strings. It needs to be strong enough to confidently push the strings, but soft enough that it doesn’t push too hard and damage the neck or make the strings go out of tune. The material used on the Nashville capo is a solid marriage of both. It’s not spongy like some others can be. Instead, it’s a strong, thin, rubber coating.
The rubber extends to the grip on the inside handle where your precious fretting fingers are squeezing the capo when you change positions. It is a nice, thoughtful touch from the designers. I wouldn’t mind if they added that to the palm side of the clamp as well.
PERFORMANCE
G7th has Nashville capos for steel 6-string acoustic, electric, and hybrid nylon guitars. I tried it out on all of them, including my skinny-neck Martin acoustic and wide-neck Gretsch electric. And it worked well on all of them.
When I’m performing live or tracking in the studio the most important thing a capo can do is evenly raise all six strings in pitch. This is one of my biggest hang-ups with trigger capos. They don’t have any nuance to the way they clamp down on the strings. It’s all pressure. As a result, the lower, thicker strings tend to go sharper than the higher, thinner strings. You can eventually get the hang of it and learn to adjust them accordingly. But it isn’t ideal.
So, to test the Nashville capo on each of my guitars, I tuned the strings in an open EADGBE position. Then I added the capo. Generally, the Nashville capo raised all of the strings a bit sharp—about 10 cents.
It is worth noting that I use light gauge strings, which will affect the performance of a capo. The lighter the string gauge, the more sensitive it will be to the pressure from the capo. So, a player who prefers higher gauge strings may hear and see less than 10 cents.
But compared to most capos of this style, it was a less dramatic and much more even result from each string, meaning, each string went up about nearly the same amount. Most people who are not looking at a tuner will not notice. So, in a live setting, especially, little to no additional tuning would be necessary.
THE VERDICT
The Nashville capo is G7th’s foray into a style of capo that they have already bested with their existing great capos. But by offering it as an option on their line, they are satisfying the players who want a capo with a smaller price. With the Nashville capo, the folks at G7th delivered and improved upon this style of capo.
Still, if you’re looking for more accurate tuning stability, more comfort and ease, and a more balanced tone, I’d check out the higher-end G7th Performance 3 capo with ART®—because that’s great, too.
Photo courtesy G7th
